All around the state, communities are working to fight plastic pollution by developing ordinances restricting the use and distribution of single-use plastic bags.

This summer Monterey County’s supervisors directed their staff to begin preparing an ordinance restricting the distribution of single-use plastic bags. The county is also preparing a broad environmental impact report—the City of Monterey has already adopted an ordinance that bans plastic bags and allows a charge for paper.

This week, other cities began taking action. San Diego, which could be one of the largest cities in the country to ban bags, decided to start work on an ordinance. Salinas’ City Council voted to move forward with a bag ordinance.

On Tuesday, the Davis City Council unanimously approved a motion to develop a single-use bag ordinance that would apply to all businesses in the city.

It’s clear that plastic bag pollution is a problem that can no longer be ignored. A recent report revealed that California cities are spending a half-billion each year dealing with litter and pollution. Single-use plastic bags are one of the most commonly found items in creek and beach clean ups and they are deadly to marine wildlife.

There’s a solution: reduce plastic bag waste at the source. With only a 3 percent recycling rate, we’ll never catch up to the billions of plastic bags being produced in California each year.